Winn-Dixie ripoff Dishonest Prejudice Uncaring Stealing time Too demanding Albany, Georgia

Back when I worked for Winn-Dixie from 1993-1995 it wasn't so bad. I left Winn-Dixie and later returned from 1996-1997 and it had gone down hill. When I came back from 2003-2004 it was ridiculous!

Winn-Dixie is the worst company you could possibly work for. They steal time from you, they expect too much from their employees, and they are crooks. Winn-Dixie's time system "WorkBrain" steals time from employees. Employees should get paid for all of their time put in.

Also, there were times where I was shorted 2-3 days on my paychecks and I would have to wait until the next payday or even the one 2 weeks away before I would receive my money. On one incident, I didn't receive any pay at all for 4 weeks because their "workbrain" system wasn't working correctly. The managers didn't care. All they would say was that they'd email them and try to get my money. It was a nightmare.

Also, the store manager, Frank Wilkerson, expects way too much from his employees. When I worked for Frank Wilkerson at store #172 my position was part-time profit clerk. I worked 4 hours a night for 4 nights a week. I was expected to unload all of my items off the truck (my items were usually on the bottom of everything else and keep in mind that I am a petite female lifting big heavy cases of dog food, etc.), stock all of my items, block, and order in 4 hours.

I'm sorry but that's just about impossible. If I hadn't done all of this he would have rude comments to make and ask me what was I doing while I was supposed to be working. I worked my a*s off. I came home at night hurting because of having to unload the truck. If I asked for help, hang it up because 99.9% of the time no one could help me.

There were many nights where I was supposed to get off at 10:00p.m. and I wouldn't leave until close to midnight. Then, they get mad at you because you went over in your time. They want everything done but if you go over you get in trouble.

Also, the managers that store #172 has are rejects. The grocery manager is the biggest joke. He wants his back room to look so good so he will put items on the shelf wherever he can find a place to put them. It doesn't matter if it's in the wrong place as long as his section of the back room looks good. Also, he is extremely dishonest and deceiving.

There were several incidents where he lied and said that I had put things where they didn't belong when all along he was the one that did it. And of course, the store manager believes this grocery manager because they are buddy buddy with each other and the grocery manager is the assistant store manager's brother. Yeah. Of course, they take up for each other.

Talk about being dishonest and stealing from the company. Frank Wilkerson, store manager, sold the display gazebos to another manager for $5.00 and $10.00. I'm sure that Winn-Dixie lost money on that. There were several customers that I know of that would have paid much more money for them than what was paid. Also, my mother was General Merchandise Manager there and it seems like it would have been her place to mark them down and sell them to the customers. Anyways, there have been several items that Frank has let go for next to nothing just to stay buddy buddy with the employees to keep them on his side.

Also, my mother was terminated from Winn-Dixie store #172 yesterday. Please keep in mind that I am the one complaining here and that what I say has nothing to do with my mother. These are my words, not hers. My mother had been working at Winn-Dixie store #172 for over 15 1/2 years. She was the General Merchandise Manager. My mother worked her a*s off every day, every second that she was at that store. She was a very loyal employee and in my opinion the best employee that any Winn-Dixie store or any other company could have. She cared about her department.

Winn-Dixie was a huge part of her life. For the past several months Winn-Dixie was coming down hard on her. They were telling her that her job had been posted and that she wasn't doing what she needed to be doing, etc. Of course, she ran the entire department by herself. She did EVERYTHING she was supposed to do. Her help, a young girl, was no help. She spent her time hanging out in the pharmacy or sitting outside in her car with her boyfriend. She rarely did any work.

When my mother would ask Frank Wilkerson for help, he'd tell her she had help or that she couldn't have any more help. So, it was all put on her. The only thing that she did not do on her list was advertise over the PA system every 30 minutes or so because she was too busy doing everything else she had to do.

Anyways, long story short, she was the best employee you could have. Well, she went in to work Friday morning sick. She felt like she was going to either get sick or pass out. When she got back to her GM room, she found that it was a total mess and that her help hadn't done anything at all the day before, which was my mother's day off. She was upset, who wouldn't be. She had to hang her signs but she started feeling a lot worse and told the sorry meat manager that she had to go. He was back there in her room asking her about his supplies.

Anyway, she told him to please get Frank to get the signs hung because she had to go. He asked her if she quit and she did not respond with anything other than she had to go. She felt that sick that she just left. That is completely not like my mother to just walk out and not tell Frank. That just shows you how sick she really was feeling. Anyways, this meat manager went back and told Frank that my mother told him she quit.

Well, instead of being a caring manager and realizing that that was totally unlike my mother, he contacted Jacksonville and had her job posted. A caring manager that had a loyal hard working employee would not have done that. He would have called to find out what was going on. And the stupid meat manager lying to him just pisses me off beyond belief. I'm sorry, but a real manager would not take the word of a meat manager that has nothing to do with my mother's position. Anyway, it was just very uncharacteristic of my mother to just walk out. Well, they kept her guessing and waiting for days to find out if she could come back to work or not.

Finally, Frank called her yesterday morning and told her she was terminated on grounds of abandonment. Whatever! After 15 1/2 years of working for this shitty place and they do this to her?!?!? I feel like they were trying to find any excuse possibly to get rid of her just to avoid paying her what they were paying her and to get out of having to pay her retirement when the time came. They did the same thing to my uncle, but luckily for him, he made it to retirement.

I just don't understand how a company can be this cruel to someone that's put in a decade and a half of loyal service. It's unreal. But, of course, now they can bring in someone younger and not pay them what they were paying my mother and it will save them money in several ways.

Winn-Dixie is the most uncaring company I have ever worked for. I will not shop there anymore. No one from my family will shop there anymore. I hope that Winn-Dixie completely loses their a*s and has to shut down every store permanently. I'd feel bad for the employees that would lose their jobs, but then again it may be a good thing because they'd probably lose them eventually anyway because of something stupid. Winn-Dixie has now messed up my mom's retirement, her social security, and really hurt her feelings.

So, just please be warned about what kind of company Winn-Dixie is before you decide to work there or even shop there. STAY AWAY FROM WINN-DIXIE!

Melissa
Albany, Georgia
U.S.A.